John Edwards Tells Take Back America Conference Speaking for the Poor Is His Life

By David Swanson

Kate Michelman introduced John Edwards and he began with the topic of Iraq, saying he was wrong to vote for it. A tough start, and a tough slot - following Obama on the stage. But Edwards said some of the right things and was applauded for it.

This Congress had a mandate, he said. Congress sumbitted a bill with a deadline, and Bush vetoed it. That was the time for Congress to stand strong, Edwards said, and the crowd tended to agree. Edwards insisted that we need to end the occupation of Iraq now, and earned loud applause. But by now, it wasn't completely clear that Edwards didn't mean in 2009. He didn't get into much detail on Iraq. He said we need universal health care "now" and that he'll do it. He said that on his first day in office he will close Guantanamo.

Edwards said he favors an America in which the president follows the law. What penalty, though, does he favor for presidents who violate the law?

The world, Edwards said, believes that all America cares about is expanding its power and that we are at war with the Muslim world. That has to change. [Loud applause.]

Edwards denounced our lack of action in Darfur and on AIDS.

He said he would lead an effort to make primary school available to all children in the world and to stop the spread of disease in the world through clean drinking water and sanitation, and to lead economic development in the poor nations of the world. America, he said, cannot be a leader through raw power. America has to demonstrate that we are worthy of leadership. [Applause.]

On global warming, too, America needs to lead, Edwards said. He proposed capping greehouse emmissions and cut by 80 percent by 2050. [Loud applause.] Auction off the right to produce greenhouse gasses, and use that money to invest in renewable energy. And until we do, there should not be another coal-fired power plant built in the United States.

It is time for the President to ask Americans to be patriotic about something other than war: conservation.

The Middle East, Edwards said, can be reformed by getting the US and Europe off our addiction to oil. The same, he said, would transform Africa, where Europeans will look for bio-fuels. (That's a trickier one, I think, than Edwards imagines. We don't need a competition for land between food and fuel. We need wind, solar, and other energies.)

Edwards promoted his book on ending poverty. He described the life of a low-income worker and her family. The crowd is with him. He supports a living wage, he said. We need to expand, he said, the right of workers to unionize. "If you can join the Republican Party by signing yor name to a card, any worker in America ought to be able to join a union by doing the same thing." The union movement has been the greatest anti-poverty movement in the history of this country, Edwards said.

On housing, Edwards encouraged facing up to the racial segregation we still have in this country. He proposed using housing vouchers to allow people to move.

He proposed a million stepping-stone jobs for kids.

He proposed an idea Kucinich has had since the last election: (free) College for Everyone.

On health care, Edwards said he wants to cover every single man, woman, and child. He suggested (rightly) that Obama's plan does not. Edwards himself has not yet followed Kucinich to the only solution: single-payer health care. He wants to keep the private insurance system but ban such policies as "pre-existing conditions".

Then Edwards said he wants to be honest and admit that his proposals cost money, but that he can pay for them by eliminating Bush's tax cuts. (That seems unlikely, and it's disturbing that Edwards would not take advantage of his support for ending the occupation of Iraq to mention how much money that will save, or how much cutting back the Pentagon would save.)

I will speak for the poor, the uninsured, the disenfranchised, Edwards said. This is my life, he said. I will do this as long as I am alive.

Then Edwards urged everyone to be involved and help work for change. The crowd seemed to like it, jumped to its feet, and got ready to head - with Edwards - to a rally at Capitol Hill for the Employee Free Choice Act.